Building a community one bowl at a time

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) — In the warmth of the Youth Museum of Southern West Virginia, members of the greater Beckley community, both old and new, gathered on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to act out one of his wishes ending hunger — one brush stroke at a time.

Volunteers with the Beckley chapter of Empty Bowls, an international project to end hunger, were hard at work inside the museum, painting bowls which will be auctioned off in a couple months to benefit nine charities.

"Doing these kinds of bowls is all over the world now," said Rebecca Beckett, an employee of the museum and coordinator for the local initiative, which is a partnership between the Quota Club of Beckley and the Youth Museum.